USA > New Jersey > Union County > Elizabeth > History of Elizabeth, New Jersey : including the early history of Union County > Part 10
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BENJAMIN CONCKLIN came with his East-Hampton neigh- bors, but, for some unexplained cause, soon after returned to his former home. Joseph and Joshua Conklin, of the same lineage, came here some forty years later, and found- ed the Conklin family of this town. They were probably children or grandchildren of the Benjamin here noticed." +
RODERICK POWELL was a servant, and, in the May fol- lowing, having run away from his master, is described as "a pittiful fellow." A Richard Powell of another lineage, doubtless, was here, only a few years later, to whom the Governor sold, Jan. 1673, his Woodbridge lands, taking Powell's E. T. house and lands in exchange, and selling the latter, soon after, to Henry Lyon. #
JACOB CLAIS, ZACKERY GRAVES, MOSES PETERSON, and THOMAS SKILLMAN, who all took the oath, were either tran- sient persons, or were mere laborers, and not freeholders.
Three other names, at least, are to be added to the list of those who were settlers during the first year-James Bollen, Robert Sealey, and Philip Carteret.
JAMES BOLLEN came over, it is thought, with the English fleet in 1664. As he was styled "Capt.," he may have
* 4 Mass. His. Soc. Coll., I. 101; II. 383. Thompson's L. I., I. 395; II. 381-3. E. J. Records, I. 1, 25, 6; II. 18, 105 ; o. e. 26; III. 7, 8. E. T. Bill, pp. 61, 109, 110. N. York Doc. History, II. 451, 5, 536.
Hedges' E. Hampton, pp. 4, 63. Thompson's L. I., I. 295, 310. Littell's Passaic Valley, pp. 83-90, 500-1.
. # E. J. Records, I. 93, 131; III. 8.
*
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
been in command of one of the vessels. Col. Nicolls ap- pointed him " Commissary of the Ammunition," at New York. He was one of those who were deputed by Nicolls, to receive the surrender of the fort at New Amsterdam, Sep. S, 1664. Ile remained at New York until Aug. 1605. In the Court Records for that year, it appears, that he fre- quently served as Foreman of the Jury, his name being written-" Bullaine," and " Balline." When Capt. Carteret, on his first voyage to America, arrived at " Newportes newes, Virginia," he sent his dispatches, June 13, 1665, " to Capt. James Bullaigne in New York;" indicating previous ac- quaintanceship, probably in the Island of Jersey, and, quite likely, a French extraction for Bollen. He attached himself to Gov. Carteret on his arrival at New York, and, as Secre- tary of the new Province, accompanied him, in August, to this town. He adhered, most rigidly, to the Governor through his troublesome administration, and was rewarded with the entire confidence of his superior. He was appoint- ed Justice of the Peace, Jan. 20, 1665, and, as such, officiated in almost every instance in the marriage-services of the period. He presided at the town meeting when the oath of allegiance was administered in February. He kept the Records of the Proprietary Government, and several of the early volumes are the work of his fingers. Becoming ex- ceedingly obnoxious to the town, by his readiness to do all the Governor's bidding in opposition to the people, he ex- changed properties, Sep. 30, 1673, with John Martin, of Woodbridge, and thenceforward ceased to reside here. His house-lot adjoined Abraham Shotwell's on the East. Martin sold the property, Nov. 6, 1674, to Henry Lyon, who resold it, May 1, 1675, " together with the Cow Yard Orchard or Garden," to Carteret, for £30. He died, intestate, in March, 1683, having survived his friend, Carteret, but a few weeks .*
ROBERT SEALEY [SEELEY] came over, probably, with Win- throp. He was at Watertown, Mass., in 1630 ; was employ- ed as Surveyor, in 1634; came to Wethersfield, Ct., in 1636;
* N. Y. Col. Docmts., II. 470; III. 293-300, 752. Valentine's Manual for 1852, pp. 453, 492, 5. 3 Mass. Ilis. Soc. Coll., X. 52. E. J. Records, I. S9 ; III. 6; A. 1.
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was a Lieutenant in the Pequot War of 1637 ; was one of the first settlers of New Haven, in 1639 ; returned to Eng- land, about 1646; came back, and joined the Delaware · Colony, that was driven off by the Dutch, in 1651; had command of the troops raised by New Haven to resist the Dutch, in 1654; was at Saybrook, in 1662; was at Hunt- ington, L. I., and in charge of the militia, in 1663; and was at New York, in 1664. The next year he united with Ogden and others in settling this town. His house-lot con- tained six acres, bounded, N., by Rev. Jeremiah Peck ; W., by the Mill Creek ; E., by the highway ; and, S., by " the Parson's house Lott." John and Nathaniel Seeley, of Fairfield (1657), and Obadiah, of Stamford, Ct., it is thought, were his sons, by his first wife. In December, 1666, he married Nancy Walker, at New York. He died, intestate, in Oct., 1668, and his widow sold, Nov. 2, 1668, his lands and rights here, for £45, to Gov. Carteret. The latter re- sold it, Feb. 22, 1669-70, to one of his Old Jersey friends. Claude Vallot, " of Champagne in the kingdom of France," who had come over with the Governor, and, having lived here five years as one of Carteret's "menial servants," had, 12 days before been naturalized. In the list of Associates, "Sealy Champain " is mentioned ; it should be, "Robert Sealy, transferred to Claude Vallot of Champagne." Vallot exchanged the property, Aug. 8, 1672, with Benjamin Park- hurst of Woodbridge, and thenceforward made the latter place his home .* .
Capt. PHILIP CARTERET, the governor, is usually styled " the brother " of Sir George Carteret. Philip, the brother of Sir George, as stated on a previous page, died in 1665. Consequently, the E. Town Philip could not be the Pro- prietor's brother. Nor could he be a brother-in-law. Lady Elizabeth Carteret, the wife of Sir George, had also a brother, Philip, but he died in 1662. The mother of Sir George was Elizabeth Dumaresque; and the mother of the Lady
* 3 Mass. His. Soc. Coll., III. 143, 153. Bacon's New Haven, p. 315. Chapin's Glastenbury, p. 46. N. Y. Marriages, p. 345. Savage, IV. 49. E. T. Bill, p. 108. E. J. Records, I. 6, 7; II. 96. N. Y. Wills, I. 64. "
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
Elizabeth was Ann Dowse ; but Capt. Philip, the governor, in his Will, speaks of his mother as "Rachel." Samuel Maverick, one of the Royal Commissioners, who knew Gov. Carteret intimately, says, June 29, 1669, " As Sir George Carterett writes to his cosen, the present Governor." The confusion may have been owing, in part, to the fact, that each of them was the son of a Helier Carteret. But the father of Sir George was the great-grandson of Edward, and the father of Philip was the great-grandson of Edward's brother, Richard ; so that Sir George was but the fourth . cousin of the governor.
Philip Carteret was the son of Helier De Carteret, At- torney General of Jersey, and of Rachel -. He was the first born of his mother, his birth having occurred in 1639, the year after her marriage. As such, he became Seigneur of the Manor of La Honque, Parish of St. Peter, Jersey. He was the grandson of Peter De Carteret, Jurat of the Royal Court of Jersey, whose father, Francis, was the second son of Richard, Seigneur of the Manor of Vin- cheles, and brother of Edward, the ancestor of Sir George. Philip was forty years the junior of Sir George, being only in his 26th year, full of the vigor and elasticity of carly man- hood, when he embarked to seek his fortune in the New World. His subsequent history is, elsewhere in this narra- tive, related at length.
The family, and their friends in Jersey, were originally French; and the language, manners and customs of France prevailed on the island. Most of those who came with Car- teret, in the ship " Philip," were, probably, from the Carteret estates in Jersey, and of French origin. The family, as has been seen, had been ardently devoted, throughout the Civil War, to the fortunes of the house of Stuart, and were high in the favor of the King, and the Duke of York .*
It appears, from this review, therefore, that the number of planters, found here in February 1665, or, if not on the ground, yet identified with the settlement, was about seventy.
* Collins' Peerage, (Ed. of 1735), IV. 821-8.
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A large proportion, nearly all, had brought their wives with them. Some of them had several children, also. A small number were considerably in years. The most of them, however, were young, vigorous, robust men, between the ages of twenty-five and forty,-just the men to lay the foun- dations of many generations.
It further appears, that the town was actually settled be- fore the arrival of Gov. Carteret ; and that he, and the peo- ple whom he brought with him, had but a small share in · founding it. The current histories have generally left the impression, that the first planters, with the exception of four families, came over in the ship "Philip." Gordon says, that Carteret "arrived with a company of thirty settlers, from England, and established themselves at Elizabethtown." Dr. Murray repeats the same story. Smith says, " With him came about thirty people, some of them servants." So says Whitehead; both of them drawing their information from the Bill in Chancery ; which says, that he came " with above thirty people, whereof some were servants and others free." Mulford says, that, "in.company with a number of persons who were disposed to adventure as planters, he started from England." Graham says, that he " arrived with a company of thirty emigrants from England." Stearns calls them- " thirty men, gentlemen and their servants." *
These thirty " men " were, part of them, women-servants. The only gentlemen were Carteret and Vauquellin, the latter of whom brought only his wife. The men-servants, as already related were eighteen in number, belonging to Sir George Carteret-" menial servants," as the Governor calls one of them. The town was founded, not by Carteret, but by Ogden, Watson, Baker, and their personal friends. The men, who met here in town-meeting at the close of the winter of 1665-6, were nearly all New England people, the most of whom had. come hither by the way of Long Island. The larger part had been, for a while, residents of the three English towns on
* Gordon's N. J., p. 28. Murray's Notes on E. T., p. 18. Smith's N. J., p. 67. White- head's E. J., p. 36. E. T. Bill, p. 28. Mulford's N. J., p. 188. Graham's U. States (Am. Ed.), I. 465. Stearns' Newark, p. 9.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
the east end of the Island, Southold, Southampton, and East Hampton. Some of them had resided a short time, at Hemp- stead, Huntington, and Jamaica. Either then, or at a pre- vious day, they had come from the other side of Long Island Sound, from Stamford, Fairfield, Milford, New Haven and Guilford. Quite a number had come from Massachusetts Bay by way of Wethersfield. In their various pilgrimages, they had been, nearly all of them, associated together in the settling of other plantations. They were neighbors and friends, who had intermarried, and in other ways become familiar one with another. When they met here, they met as old acquaintances,-as one people .*
As truly, therefore, as in the case of Newark, Southold, Southampton, East Hampton, Huntington, and Hempstead, this town was of New England origin. Its founders were of the old Puritan Stock, and brought with them, to these fer- tile shores, their Puritan religion, habits, manners, and cus- toms. They were of one mind and one heart. The only dis- turbing element among them came from abroad. With Carteret and his company they had no congeniality, and al- most no sympathy. Though it has been charitably conjec- tured, " that the settlers brought here by Carteret were mainly of Puritan faith," not a doubt can be entertained of the erroneousness of the conjecture. Carteret's men were not properly immigrants. They were colonial agents, gov- ernmental officials, house-servants, and farm-laborers. A. large part of them were, probably, Roman Catholics ; and the remainder, of the Church of England-the religion of the Court, if such a Court could be said to have any religion. These were not the men that gave character to the town, that laid its foundations, and gave form to the social, moral and religious character of the people.t
The planters of this town had, the most of them, matured. under the Commonwealth. They had learned, almost from their earliest days, to abjure the divine right of kings ; and to regard the House of Stuart with holy aversion, as invaders
* E. T. Bill, pp. 107, 9. E. J. Records, III. 80.
t Manual of 1st P. Chh. E. T., 1858, p. 3.
8
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THE HISTORY OF
of the vested rights of the people, and as essentially imperi- ous despots. They had been trained to the largest liberty in government. The towns, which they and their fathers had founded, had been constituted, and their government ad- ministered, according to their own conceptions of truth and right. No prætorian governor, from a far country, presided, either in person or by proxy, in their town-meetings, or med- dled with their affairs in the least. Their governors, and all their rulers, were of themselves, freely and periodically chosen and inducted. The Deputies to their General Court were annually chosen. They met and deliberated, made and administered the laws, and took measures for the welfare of the people, with none to molest, or "make them afraid." The Constitution of government, under which most of them had lived, was thoroughly democratic, making "no mention whatever, either of king or parliament or the least inti- mation, of allegiance to the mother country ; " in which " an oath of allegiance " was " required directly to the State," and the " General Court " was declared to be " the Supreme Power of the Commonwealth." *
Carteret and his company, on the other hand, were mon- archists ; diligently and sacredly taught to believe in the di- vine right of kings ; to be jealous for the royal prerogative ; to hate and abjure both Cromwell and the Commonwealth ; (the Isle of Jersey having been the very last to hold out against the Parliamentary forces); to look with contempt upon the "round-heads ;" to make sport of Puritan strict- ness in religion and morals, and to live in the unrestrained indulgence that so commonly and shamefully characterized the Court of Charles. These were not, it will be seen, very congenial elements for the organization of social, political and religious institutions. In the very nature of the case, occasional collisions between the Court party and the people were to be expected ; they could not be wholly avoided.
* Dr. Bushnell's Speech for Ct., p. 12.
.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
CHAPTER VI.
A. D. 1666-1669.
Government of the Town - Forms of Marriage Licenses- Indentures, and the . Hue and Cry for Runaways - Sale of the S. half of the Town -Settlement of Woodbridge and Newark - Traffic in Pipe Staves - Cold Winter - Rev. Abm. Pierson at Newark - Brackett appointed Ass. Surveyor -Newark Boundary prayerfully settled - Great Mortality - "Duke's Laws" - First Legislature of N. Jersey at E. T. - Laws -Second Session - Collision with the Governor - Abrupt Adjournment -Whaling Company- Disputes about Staten Island -Berkeley and Carteret in Trouble -Mortality.
GOVERNOR CARTERET appears to have entered upon his ad- ministration with a desire to ingratiate himself with the peo- ple of the town, which he had chosen as the seat of govern- ment. John Ogden was commissioned, Oct. 26, 1665, as Justice of the Peace, and, Nov. 1, appointed one of the gov- ernor's Council. Capt. Thomas Young was, also, Feb. 12, 1665, appointed of the Council. A military company was organized, somewhat later, for the defence of the town against the Indians; of which Luke Watson was made Lieutenant, and John Woodruff, Ensign. Watson was, also, made the constable of the town .*
The work of planting and building went on rapidly. Car- teret had brought over, not only a large company of laborers to aid in subduing the wilderness, but also " several goods of great value, proper for the first planting and settling of New Jersey." Doubtless, it was regarded by the Associates, in their simplicity, as a special providence, that a man of such cultivation, and of resources so ample, with apparently such kind intentions, and so well-disposed to cast in his lot with
* E. J. Records, III. 8, 4, 7, 20, 21.
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them, should have been sent over, at this very time, to this very spot. Not apprehending any difficulty from the conflict- of opinions and claims, which might grow out of their pecu- liar relations to each other, the town's people were rather flat- tered, it may well be thought, at the idea of the distinction to be given to their humble plantation, by having the Governor of the Province as one of their number, and their town made the seat of government .*
It is affirmed, and not denied, so far as appears, that the " ship Philip," that brought over the Governor,
Having remained about six months in New-Jersey, returned for Eng- land; and the year afterwards made another voyage to New-Jersey; and sundry other ships and vessels from time to time, were sent by the Lords Proprietors to New Jersey with people and goods, to encourage the plant- ing and peopling thereof; and, that upon the said Governor Carteret's arrival aforesaid, at Elizabeth Town, he paid to the Indians, with whom the said Bailey, Watson and Denton had bargained for the said lands as aforesaid, the greatest part of the consideration that had been agreed to be paid them.
The means of verifying, or of disproving, these statements are not at hand. If the former be true, it accounts, in part for the rapidity with which the town advanced in substantial prosperity. If the latter, also, be true, it furnishes another confirmation of the conjecture, that, at his first coming, the Governor did not presume to call in question the validity of the Indian purchase and of the grant by his predecessor, Gov. Nicolls.t
Owing to the loss of the early Records of the town, as al- ready noticed, very few of the incidents of the every-day life of the planters have been preserved. Here and there the pages of the Proprietary Records shed some light on what was passing among them. As an illustration of their mode of contracting marriages, the following may serve as a speci- men. It is the first entry of the kind on the Records, and probably the first that occurred in the town. The parties were servants, who had come over with the Governor, and afterwards settled on Staten Island :-
* E. T. Bill, p. 28.
t E. T. Bill, p. 28.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
License of Marriage.
Whereas I have recd Information of a mutual Interest and agreement betwene Daniel Perrin of Elizabeth Towne in the province of New Jarsey and .Maria Thorel of the same Towne Spinster to solemnize Mariage together for which they have Requested my Lycense and there appearing no Lawfull Impediment for ye Obstruction thereof These are to Require You or Eyther of you to Joyne the said Daniel Perrin and Marie Thorel in Matrimony and them to pronounce man and Wife, and to make record thereof according to the Lawes in that behalfe provided, for the do- ing Whereof this shall be to you or Eyther of you a sufficient Warrant. Given under my hand and seale the Twelft day of february Anº 1665 and in the 18th Yeare of his Maties Raign King Charles the Second.
To any of the Justices of the Peace
or Ministers Wthin the Government of the province of New Jarsey
Ph Carterett
These Couple Where Joyned together in Matrimony the 18 feb. 1665 by me J Bollen*
An Indenture is on record, of the 7th of April, 1666, wherein Robert Gray binds himself as a servant for three years to Luke Watson ; the latter to give him, at the end of the term, " a good cowe." This is followed, on the 7th of the next month, May, with " a Hue and Cry " for a servant be- longing to Mr. Luke Watson, who has " lately absented him- selfe and runn away from his Master's service." A descrip- tion of the fugitive is given in these words :
His name Robert graij an Englishman bornd, about 20 yeares of age, a lustij bodied portely fellow, light brownish haire, very little haire on his face, a little demij Castor, a gray broad cloth sute, the breeches tyed att the knees, and a red coate, besides a light graij coulored Serge breeches, and a Snap hansminskell that hee hath stollen awaije wth many other things. It is Supposed that hee is in Company wth one Ruderic Powell, a pittiful fellow, who hath also absented himselfe and runn awaij.t
The territory purchased by the Associates of the Indians, and patented by Gov. Nicolls, was evidently ample enough for several towns,-vastly too large to be soon occupied by the original purchasers. The fame of the newly-opened country had reached the most distant parts of New England, and colonists were attracted hither. Some of the people of Newbury, Mass., finding themselves uncomfortably straiten-
* E. J. Records, III. 6. t Ib., p. S.
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THE HISTORY OF
ed for farming lands, sent a deputation to visit these parts, and, if pleased with what they saw and heard, to secure an eligible location for a town. Hospitably entertained on their arrival, and made acquainted, by personal inspection, with that part of the Elizabeth Town patent that lay between the Raritan and Rahway rivers, that had been offered them, on fair terms, by the town, they concluded to purchase it. Ac- cording to the custom of the times, they applied to Gov. Car- teret and received, May 21, 1666, the necessary permit-John Pike, Daniel Pierce, and Abraham Tapping, [Tappan, or Tappin], in behalf of themselves and their Associates -- to set- tle two townships within the bounds specified : for which a deed, duly executed, was given them, December 11, 1666, by Carteret, Ogden, and Watson, representing the Associates of the Town .*
It has been affirmed, that, " at the date thereof, no other persons were intitled to what right the said Indian purchase gave, than the said Philip Carteret, John Ogden and Luke Watson." It seems to have been forgotten that both the In- dian deed, or " bill of sale," of Oct. 28, 1664, and the .Nicolls' patent of Dec. 1, 1664, expressly conveyed the territory to the Grantees and Patentees respectively, " and their Asso- ciates," whoever they might be, who thus, severally, became entitled to a right of property in the purchase, as truly as any one of the men described by name. If the Town-Book, in which their early transactions were duly recorded, were now accessible, it would, doubtless, show, that the matter had been submitted to the people in town-meeting, and a vote taken, giving to Carteret, Ogden and Watson, authority to alienate " the one moiety or half part" of their purchased possession. It was sold as such "half part of the said tract of land which was purchased of the Indians." By becoming a party to this transaction, therefore, Carteret again acknowledged the va- lidity of the original purchase and patent. +
The consideration, for which this moiety was sold, as ex-
* E. T. Bill, p. 29. E. J. Records, B. 182. Whitehead's E. Jersey, pp. 41, 2, 183, 4. White- head's Perth Amboy, pp. 355. Albany Records, XXII. 35.
+ E. T. Bill, p. 30. Leaming and Spicer's Grants, Concessions, &c., pp. 670, 1.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
pressed in the deed, was £80 sterling ; a sum more than suf- ficient, it has been said, to reimburse the people for the origi- nal outlay ; so much of it as had been advanced by Carteret being returned to him, and the remainder being paid into the common treasury .*
The town was originally regarded as extending on the North, to the mouth of the Passaic river ; but arrangements were in progress, at this very time, to reduce these limits. Robert Treat, of Milford, who, in Nov. 1661, had, with others, endeavored to come to an agreement with Gov. Stuy- vesant, for the settlement of a plantation in these parts, and had failed to secure satisfactory conditions from the Dutch Government, had, some time in the winter of 1665, or in the early spring, been again deputed, with others of his towns- men, to visit this section, and secure land sufficient for a town. On their arrival, they found themselves, at once, among old and valued friends and neighbors-men and women, with whom, at Wethersfield, Milford, New Haven, and Guilford, they had taken sweet counsel together. The Branford peo- ple, who were meditating a union with the others in the new plantation, were many of them emigrants from Southampton, from which place and its neighborhood, a large portion of the people of this town had come. This was, evidently, a principal attraction to the new settlers from Connecticut.t
It was not difficult, in such a case, to agree upon terms. The town's people welcomed their old friends, and cheerfully consented to part with that portion of their purchase, which lay on the other side of what has, from that day, and on that account, been called " Bound Brook ; " and Carteret agreed to extinguish the Indian title to the land beyond the town line to the northern bend of the Passaic river. Treat and his associates returned, and made so favorable a report, that about thirty families determined, at once, to remove to New Jersey ; and, on the very day, May 21, 1666, that Pierce and his company had arranged for the settlement of Woodbridge
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